Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Caught a Snake
"Jiaojiao and the others got lucky. Those three large yellow croakers weighed seven catties combined, and the sea snails didn’t sell for cheap either. In total, they made ninety yuan and sixty cents."
Looking at the nine ten-yuan bills, everyone’s faces bloomed into smiles.
"This typhoon washed up a lot of things. It wasn’t just our family; I also heard someone found a pretty big giant grouper."
"A giant grouper? Wow, how much would that be worth?"
"That’s not all. Another family found a large yellow croaker too, but only one. I heard a fight broke out over it, and in the end, Cai Jinhua took advantage of the chaos and snatched it away."
Wang Mei curled her lip at the news. "No wonder Cai Jinhua was acting so high and mighty when she saw me today. She was spouting some nonsense, saying her Yun Zhuangzhuang is the real lucky charm or something..."
At the time, she had been in a hurry to get back for dinner and had just shooed her away.
After dinner, the rest of the family saw the large sea turtle.
The sea turtle was very Zen. It lay in a large wooden basin, and the seawater inside barely covered the bottom of its shell.
But it didn’t seem to care at all, lying in the large basin like an old monk deep in meditation.
"Mom! How did our family catch such a huge sea turtle?"
Wang Mei was taking the empty bowls to the kitchen when she went into the backyard and jumped in fright.
Granny Yun’s voice drifted over. "Jiaojiao and the others brought it back. They said they want to keep it as a pet."
"It was the one that brought us that huge yellow croaker before."
As she spoke, Granny Yun found some of the small assorted fish and worthless little shrimp they had gathered today and offered them to the turtle. It opened its mouth and began to eat with relish.
Wang Mei muttered, "Such a big sea turtle... can our family afford to feed it?"
"It’s fine. Jiaojiao said that every time they go foraging at the beach, they’ll take it along to find its own food in the sea."
"Huh? If it runs off, will it even come back?"
Granny Yun replied, "I don’t know. Just let the kids play."
After the meal, the adults in the family got busy again.
Yun Xiaowu also took his younger brothers and Yun Jiao and ran towards the mountains.
"We’re not going to the beach. Let’s go to the mountains. I wonder if the fruit on that guava tree we found last time is ripe yet."
Seeing them heading for the mountains, Shen Yunlian quickly called out, "Take the baskets with you. If you see any wild vegetables, pick some to bring back. And the back-baskets, too. Gather some firewood."
Yun Xiaowu replied, "Got it."
That was how the villagers were. When children went to the mountains to play, they would always take a back-basket and a hatchet, bringing back any firewood they found.
And those whose families raised chickens, ducks, geese, or pigs had to gather some pig feed to bring back.
The four brothers—Yun Xiaowu, Yun Xiao Liu, Yun Xiaoqi, and Little Eight—carried back-baskets of various sizes.
Yun Xiaojiu and Yun Jiao just brought two small bamboo baskets.
The brothers skipped up the mountain with their little sister in tow.
"Wait, this flower..."
Yun Jiao followed her brother’s gaze. It was just a very ordinary little purple wildflower.
"Hold on, I’m going to make a flower crown for Jiaojiao."
He quickly found a plant with thin vines, measured a circle against Yun Jiao’s head, and then began weaving the vines around it.
The others realized what he was doing and joined in, finding pretty little wildflowers nearby to decorate it.
Just like that, a beautiful, colorful floral wreath was finished.
Yun Xiaowu placed it on Yun Jiao’s head.
"It’s beautiful! Of course my sister has to have what other girls have."
No matter where they lived, little girls always loved to look pretty.
They couldn’t afford pretty hair clips or ribbons, so the clever and nimble-fingered little girls liked to weave flower wreaths while in the mountains and preen while wearing them.
Yun Jiao had never done this before, but there was no stopping her brothers, who loved to see her preen.
"My sister is the prettiest in all of Bailong Village!"
The others nodded in agreement.
Yun Jiao touched the wreath on her head. "Can I eat the flowers on this?"
"No."
"I see a patch of Thunder God Vegetable! Let’s go, quick. It rained so hard and thundered yesterday, so the Thunder God Vegetable must be growing well."
The group went over and pulled up a bunch, filling a basket in the end.
"We’re pretty lucky. This Thunder God Vegetable is delicious and hard to find."
This stuff only grows after a thunderstorm.
Yun Xiaowu said, "There’s a dry tree over there. I’m going to go chop it. Jiaojiao, don’t run off, okay?"
Yun Jiao let out an "oh." "Then I’ll look around here for mushrooms."
The brothers said in unison, "Don’t you dare put raw mushrooms in your mouth."
’So annoying,’ Yun Jiao thought. ’I just want to see what they taste like.’
Her brothers went to chop firewood, while Yun Jiao took a small stick and poked around here and there.
And she actually found some mushrooms.
And not just any mushrooms, but the famously delicious wild morels.
The cap of the morel was a dark brown, shaped like a small, pointed hat. Its surface was covered in uneven pits, like a sheep’s stomach, and the stem was white.
Not only were these edible, but they could also be sold for a good price.
But more than selling them, Yun Jiao wanted to eat them.
Placing the basket by her feet, Yun Jiao squatted down and began to pick them.
There was a whole little patch here.
As she was squatting and picking the morels, a black snake as thick as three fingers slowly slithered down from the tree behind her.
It silently approached Yun Jiao, reared its head, and lunged to bite her.
Yun Jiao felt a chill on her back. Her vigilance from her past life was still intact. She dodged to the side, grabbed the snake’s head, and with lightning speed, slammed it onto the ground.
"A snake?"
Before the snake could react, Yun Jiao grabbed its tail and whipped it against a nearby rock.
THWACK! Blood splattered, and the snake’s head was smashed out of shape.
The snake was clearly not going to survive, but its body was still writhing.
"What’s wrong? What happened?"
Hearing the commotion, Yun Xiaowu and the others came running. When they saw such a thick snake not far from Yun Jiao, their faces paled.
Yun Xiaowu snatched Yun Jiao up in his arms.
"Did it bite you?"
Yun Jiao shook her head. "No."
"Are you scared?"
She shook her head again, answering with wide, innocent eyes, "No."
’The snake should be the one who was scared,’ she thought. ’It was literally scared to death.’
"It’s a black-striped snake."
Yun Xiaoqi picked up the snake with the deformed head, took one look, and relaxed.
"This snake isn’t venomous."
"Wow, little sister, you’re amazing! You killed such a big snake!"
Yun Jiao just stood there looking obedient, fair, and delicate—nothing like someone who could kill a snake. The contrast was completely jarring.
But... she was the one who had killed this huge snake.
"So ferocious."
"This must weigh two catties."
Yun Xiaowu said, "Put it in the back-basket to take home. We’ll get Grandma to kill a chicken. We have to make a Dragon and Phoenix Soup with this."
"In your dreams. If you ask Grandma to kill a chicken, she’ll kill you first."
The family only had two old hens that laid eggs, and their grandma treasured them.
"If only we could run into a wild pheasant."
"Keep dreaming. No way. When are we ever that lucky?"
"Jiaojiao, did you find morels?"
Yun Jiao nodded, holding up her small basket for them to see. Her soft, childish voice held a hint of pride.
"So many."
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